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Pro bodybuilding organ failure and transplants


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How do you guys feel about this? Pro bodybuilders who have obviously ruined their internal organs through drugs and such. This is the main reason I don't like pro bodybuilding. When they get organ transplants, like flex wheeler with his kidneys, they are taking organs from people whose lives depended on those transplants. Abusing yourself with a bad diet and lots of drugs, then taking organs from people who genuinely needed them. In the case of a pro bodybuilder, it is totally avoidable and I think it's wrong.

 

How do you feel?

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Great post!! I agree completely. The closest thing I can think of is people who drink 24-7 for years and then need liver transplants, but at least they can say their alcoholism is a disease. Bodybuilders know the dangers of their drug-taking, poor diets, etc. Also, these people make aspiring bodybuilders think that they need to engage in the same destructive behavior to become pros. So not only do they take a transplant away from someone who needs it, but they encourage others to do the same.

 

That's why I have respect for natural bodybuilders and people, including many on this site, who make impressive gains without sacrificing their health.

 

Mike

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I definitely think they should be put on the bottom of the list...and if someone else needs to get on the list they should be bumped down again. It just isn't right. As for natural bodybuilders I'd knock them down a bit too...its not exactly healthy...either is cycling. Great endurance athletes are often born with enlarged hearts...at the top...the ones that have this "problem" are aware of it. If they want to stay at the top then they're taking that risk and should be bumped down as well. To be at the top of any sport you're basically putting your body at risk...I don't want others to suffer for my sake.

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This is a hard one. So what about people using drugs for recreation. And what about people that don't do anything, thats also not healthy. Or people just not eating healthy.. What about people that work dangerous jobs..

Should people be checked for things like that and than be put on the bottom of some list?

 

I don't think so.

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Imo what somebody does with their own body is no one else's business but their own as long as it doesn't affect others. I suppose if the pro bber is getting an organ that someone who is "more diseased" is waiting on, they should have less priority, but really who's to say who's more eligible? Several people have brought up a lot of the difficulties in assigning priorities to who can receive what....

 

But really no one should be getting transplants anyway.

 

What's the point? There's such a hype about extending one's life and living longer, I really don't get it at all. There was some guy at my campus, a transhumanist, giving a talk about theories on how humans could extend their lives tremendously. I don't get it... don't get me wrong. I enjoy living. In fact I know no other thing. But I feel like when you're living you're living and when you die you die. You should live only until you die, and not any longer. Of course this is just one man's opinion.

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I spent 5 years dealing with liver transplant patients and 2 years in a unit that cared for those "brain dead" patients who were potential donors. Many of those who needed the transplants could be said to have "abused" their bodies. By whose standards? Most people don't have organ failure despite doing the same things that lead to another person's failure. It's like denying lung surgery to the smoker who gets cancer and only giving surgery to second-hand smokers (in a world where surgery is scarce, for instance). How about obese people? Spousal abusers? Rapists? It's a slippery slope when you start allocating resources based on the worthiness of the person in question.

 

I worked with a number of nurses who said very cruel things about the "drug addict/ alcoholic/ scumbag/ friggin ungrateful can't even speak english Puerto Rican why did he even get a liver/ etc, etc." patients who we cared for in the ICU. The one who stands out most was the recovering addict who viewed his new liver as a new lease on life and a true gift - something about him and his wife was so positive it made up for lots of the negative crap. Not everyone looks at a transplant that way, not even those with congenital organ problems. Of course there are those out there who would get a new organ and start abusing a substance again - but they'll die.

 

There is a lot of screening that goes on for placement on a transplant list. Patients are tied into the medical system for life afterwards and have to take anti-rejection drugs for life. Some have multiple transplants because of host rejection. And many die waiting for a new organ when the new one fails. You have to be highly motivated to live with a transplanted organ.

 

Most people refuse to give up their organs, even when they're dead. I bet those same people would expect to get an organ for their child or loved one, however. If all of the organs that could be harvested were donated then no one would die waiting for an organ. If you desire to donate your organs when you die, please tell all of your close family members. Your organ donor card/ license won't be in the ICU or ER when you family is approached for donation. Your wishes won't matter to the hospital because dead people don't sue. It is your family who makes the actual decision on your organ donation. (Sorry, but it pissed me off royally whenever I sent someone off to the morgue who could have saved the lives of a few).

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.

What's the point? There's such a hype about extending one's life and living longer, I really don't get it at all. There was some guy at my campus, a transhumanist, giving a talk about theories on how humans could extend their lives tremendously. I don't get it... don't get me wrong. I enjoy living. In fact I know no other thing. But I feel like when you're living you're living and when you die you die. You should live only until you die, and not any longer. Of course this is just one man's opinion.

 

Make that two . I think people are afraid of death because they don't know what comes after it. Uncertainty has a way of creating fear. In cultures where death is accepted as a natural part of life, it isn't such a negative thing because people in the culture know that there's nothing to be afraid of.

 

I guess the question would be, "where do we draw the line?" There are a lot of things that can prolong a person's life unnaturally (medication, surgery, etc.). I don't mean to get too off-topic with this stuff, though. This is such a thought-provoking area of discussion that I'm sure numerous threads could be created from the original topic .

 

Mike

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If we all lived in bubbles we'd live a lot longer too since we wouldn't be exposed to disease and many of the worlds toxins(although in that case the bubble couldn't be plastic).

 

Anyhow...I think what people do with their own bodies isn't our business unless we're in a shared health care system. Our health care prices are high because people feel free to do what they want to. If they had respect for the system they'd get off it and pay full pop. Think of car insurance...someone gets enough tickets...they aren't allowed to and we no longer share the cost of damage they may cause in an accident. Drive safe and never get a ticket...and you pay less for insurance. Thats the way things should be in health care as well. Or would you suggest all drunk drivers be able to keep their licenses?

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If we all lived in bubbles we'd live a lot longer too since we wouldn't be exposed to disease and many of the worlds toxins(although in that case the bubble couldn't be plastic).

 

Anyhow...I think what people do with their own bodies isn't our business unless we're in a shared health care system. Our health care prices are high because people feel free to do what they want to. If they had respect for the system they'd get off it and pay full pop. Think of car insurance...someone gets enough tickets...they aren't allowed to and we no longer share the cost of damage they may cause in an accident. Drive safe and never get a ticket...and you pay less for insurance. Thats the way things should be in health care as well. Or would you suggest all drunk drivers be able to keep their licenses?

The thing is you can't compare it to driving.

I mean a rich guy can live very unhealthy and just pay for whatever problem arise, a poor man could be trying to live healthy have bad luck and not be able to pay for decent care... Thats crap!

Just because one has the luck to have lots of money should not give one more rights than other people.

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Thats true...but we're really talking about people voluntarily doing things that may hurt them...and others. If I get in a bike accident thats my fault while training(commuting is different) insurance shouldn't cover me the same way it would cover someone who slips down the stairs and gets the same injury. Its not fair for me to make you pay for my injury if I'm doing something for sport...there should be a different deductable. Chances are if I get in a bike wreck it'll be in a race but thats also different...the cycling commission has different insurance that doesn't mix in with everyone else's policies but when training it would. Same goes for drugs...if I have a screwed up liver/kidneys from doing steroids for muscle growth then I shouldn't be covered...if I need to take those same drugs for health reasons then I should be covered in the case of being in need of a transplant.

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I wonder to what degree these high organ failure rates are related to diet, and not just to steroids (although I'm sure that's a big factor)?

 

From reading Dr. Fuhrman's "Eat to Live" and listening to his podcasts, he mentions that many people on kidney transplant lists were able to turn their disease around by going on a nutrient dense diet that are also low in protein. It just seems to me that eating excessively large amounts of protein for years on end must be hard on one's liver and kidneys. Also, if one is not eating the foods that are high in phytochemicals and vitamins, that will help your organs run well, then you also face increassed risk. To sustain a 300 pound body with unnatural amounts of muscle (due to roids), requiring more protein than one's poor little kidneys and liver were ever meant to process, just seems a bit dangerous.

 

But then again, I'm not a nutrition expert.

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I bet you diet is closely related because everyone is basically eating steroids when they eat meat.

 

Interesting point. God knows eating a few chicken breasts and downing a few whey shakes chocked full of hormones and antibiotics (so that you get several hundred grams of animal protein per day) must but additional stress on your heart, kidneys, intestines....etc, compared to eating salads, legumes, fruits, nuts, hemp protein….etc.

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I think a lot of todays health problems come from the hormones/antibiotics in meat and dairy....maybe more so than the meat itself.

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yeah when i went vegan my acne cleared up. I think the hormones they put in the food is what caused it in the first place. My sister drinks a ton of dairy a day. She doesn't eat a lotta meat, but she loves cheese etc. She has the worst case of acne of anyone i've ever known. She had a dairy allergy as a child. I was lactose intolerant so giving it up was no problem for me. I just feel cleaner inside when i don't eat meat.

 

As far as organ transplants go, I don't think they should give people transplants who did the damage themselves. Self inflicted pain gets no sympathy imo. People who are genuinely sick from causes they can't control should get first dibs.

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Its hard enough for people that don't do anything to cause organ failure to get a replacement...it only makes sense that they go first...often times though...they don't get anything.

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